There is a very easy answer to that. As long as it needs to be.
Those with a short attention span or who enjoy brevity can stop reading now.
If there is still anyone left reading this; let me go into a little more detail for you.
So, just how long should a blog post be? Good question.
There are a few myths and many more opinions flying around especially with regards to what length of post Google favours.
‘It must be at least 300 words to rank in the search engines,’ ‘600 words is the maximum length.’ ‘’never write less than 1000 words.’ Just three of the theories I’ve seen advanced in a quick trawl of the net.
A quick change of mindset is required
We need to spin this around. Rather than asking yourself how long your blog post should be, what you should be asking is, ‘What am I trying to achieve with this blog post?’
We can also add another sneaky little question. ‘Who am I writing for?’ If the answer to that is the just the search engines than you’re on the wrong site.
You need to be over at BlackHatSEOandCrapContent.com.
If, however, you are writing to inform and provide good quality content to your readers or customers (with a little SEO benefit too) you are in the right place.
What are you trying to achieve with your blog post?
There are probably only a few reasons to write a blog post:
• To answer a question
• To engage with your readers / customers
• To gather social media shares
• To attract more traffic
• To pre-sell a product or service
However, there is no magic formula that says how many words are needed.
Write as many, or as few, as you need to make your point and give your reader all the information she needs. If that is 300 words or 3000 it doesn’t matter. Take care not to make it so short that you leave information out, nor so long that you have had to pad it out with waffle.
Never start writing with a specific word count in mind. If you have chosen a subject your reader is interested in she will read the full post no matter how long it is.
Back to the search engines
Although no-one should be writing specifically for Google, high rankings are always welcome. There does seem to be some validity in the argument that very short posts, 250 words or less, very rarely rank highly in Google.
Furthermore, all things being equal, a longer post (2000 words plus) targeting the same keyword, will usually rank higher than a shorter one. Longer posts also seem to be shared more on social media.
Having said all that…..
A lot also depends on your writing style and audience. On this blog I usually write longer posts, 700 – 1500 words, simply because my style is best suited to this and I believe my audience enjoys a more detailed article.
However, my copywriting clients usually request blog posts between 500 and 700 words. Which is adequate to write an informative and interesting article. This is probably the average length of a typical blog post.
A lesson from history with our good friend President Lincoln
Obviously Abraham Lincoln had no idea about SEO or content for search engines as his famous Gettysburg Address only contained 272 words
Abe would have been ignored by Google. Or would he?
I’m guessing his speech would have had social media in meltdown so he would have generated plenty of traffic. Size doesn’t always matter (come on you knew that old gag was going to appear sooner or later).
But the point stands. You don’t have to always create monster posts to make an impact as long as you give your audience what they want.
So, to rewind to the first paragraph.
Question: How long should a blog post be?
Answer: As long as it needs to be.
Caveat: As long as your content is interesting, compelling, and helps your audience.
If even 20 words are too many as far as you are concerned; I understand your pain. Trying to write content regularly for your blog, especially when you are trying to run a business or department, can be a big challenge.
If it’s too big a challenge, let me help you out. I can provide topical, interesting, and well-written content for you, whenever you want it.
As a freelance copywriter I have written thousands of blog posts and articles.
Whether you want one blog post a month, a week, or even daily – give me a call on 0722 431483 or drop me an email to copy@craigellyard.co.uk for an informal chat on how I can help you, and your business, with your blog content. And don’t forget to subscribe to my newsletter. I’ll send you a FREE eBook just for signing up.